[LSB] Chapter 121: Julian's Just A Chill Guy

“Julian… Winters?”

People recognized him instantly.

If there was one thing Julian always underestimated, it was just how popular he had become among humanity. Even civilians in the middle of being rescued—already running for their lives—stopped in their tracks the moment he descended from the sky.

No. Not just them.

Even the daemons—normally void of any instinct or emotion—paused to acknowledge his presence. Or at least, it seemed that way.

The massive daemon rats turned their heads toward him, the tentacles writhing from their faces stretching out, reaching.

[It’s worse than we thought, Julian,] MEGAN said as she scanned the area. [There are a hundred daemons here. Just in this sector.]

“Hmm,” Julian hummed. He tilted his head, listening to the pulsing of the air.

And then, the daemons began moving again. Most ignored him, returning to their path of destruction—terrorizing, tearing through anything between them and their prey.

But some turned.

Some charged at him.

The sound of their claws scraping against the building walls as they skittered down was disgusting—wet, squelchy, and erratic.

Julian’s armor writhed, shifting. And the Soul Thread emerged from his sleeve, previously hidden by the exosuit when it morphed around his body back in the mothership. He let the Soul Thread hang in his hand and bounce in the air for a moment—then tilted his head again, as if considering something.

[Of course, Master.]

And he did not even have to say anything to Femty or MEGAN at all.

The femto-cloud coiling around his arm responded instinctively, unraveling like a swarm of femtoscopic ants. It slithered along the garrote’s thread, gripping it, pulling it, and stretching the razor-thin thread to its absolute limit.

With a breath, Julian stretched his arm to the side, and the garrote that dangled with the wind just moments ago whipped in the air, straightening into a rapier. 

No, not exactly a blade at all—but similar. 

The impossibly thin thread of xylarion hummed, held perfectly straight by the femto-cloud stretching it apart.

It looked like a blade, but it wasn’t. Not exactly.

[Great. You made a giant floss, MEGAN scoffed.

[I only did what was on Master’s mind,] Fifty replied.

[Well, it’s a Flossblade now. I’m claiming that name.] A tiny, wicked giggle whispered into Julian’s mind—but that wasn’t all MEGAN was doing.

[It’s missing a little something,] she stretched a hum, [Aha!] 

Julian placed the Flossblade close to his chest, and soon, the humming the xylarion made evolved into something else—a buzz. 

The thread began to vibrate multiple times the speed of sound, reaching a frequency so high it caused Julian’s senses to whistle. 

But Julian released a breath, tuning out the noise of the Flossblade.

Despite the violent vibrations, Julian felt nothing in his arm. The exosuit completely absorbed the feedback, dampening every tremor.

[I know you hate modern weapons, Julian, but I also know you’ve always wanted to try a phasing blade,] MEGAN said, her giggle turning into a smug chuckle.

Julian did not really respond at all. Instead, he turned around and swung the Flossblade straight down, slicing the daemon rat lunging at him from behind. 

The Flossblade completely went through the daemon’s exoskeleton like it was paper—no. Like it was just a watery foam. 

Julian was like a stone on a river, the daemon’s body splitting apart–its two halves moving past his sides, with the exosuit sliding them away from him.

Unknowingly, Julian might have just created one of the strongest weapons in the universe—and it was a piece of thread.

A mixture of his god-like blacksmithing skills and cutting-edge technology.

And the Master of Shadows seemed to agree—it was once again whispering loudly in his mind.

[[Offer the Soul Thread, and the Gigantes armor to the Master of Shadows!]]

It had been silent for a long time. Now, suddenly, it was talking to him without end.

Julian frowned. Aside from the Soul Thread, he couldn’t even offer the exosuit—it wasn’t his creation to give in the first place.

And why was it calling the armor Gigantes?

He let out a quiet grunt, shaking off the voice pressing at the edge of his thoughts. He already had two people in his head; he didn’t need a third.

“We can talk later. When I’m back in Artemia,” Julian muttered to himself—or rather, to the Master of Shadows. He wasn’t even sure the primordial god could hear him. But considering how it always seemed to know what was happening… it was probably watching. Always.

[Master, on your left!]

[Psh, what a noob.]

Femty screamed in Julian’s mind, but before she could actually finish uttering the first word, Julian had already stretched his arm to the left.

And this time, he did not even swing—he just held the Flossblade with the end pointing to the ground and let the giant daemon rat walk through it.

“Hmm.” Julian tilted his head as the daemon split apart again. This time, though, he didn’t stay still—he finally began to move.

He lunged forward at high speed—Julian was already extremely fast on Earth. But on Mars?

It felt like he was gliding. No—floating. And with the Gigantes enhancing his every step, the acceleration was seamless, almost unreal.

“What!?”

An exterminator caught a glimpse of Julian as he shot past, too fast to track. He spun around in disbelief—only to realize Julian had already taken down four daemons.

In less than a second.

He blinked, and Julian was gone again. He looked around, confused, then finally spotted him—up above—running along the walls like a phantom, spinning as he went, the Flossblade flicking in arcs like a ribbon of death.

If there wasn’t a threat of daemon juices dropping onto his mouth right now, it would probably be wide open.

The daemons clinging to the walls did not stand a chance at all, their bodies and limbs flew everywhere—no. Most of the daemons dropped to the ground, only to explode into pieces as soon as their bodies hit the pavement.

The daemons clinging to the walls didn’t stand a chance. Their limbs flew through the air—no, not even that. Most of them simply dropped to the ground, their bodies seeming intact… until they hit the pavement.

That’s when they exploded into pieces.

Sure, normal phasing blades could pierce daemon exoskeletons. But this? These daemons didn’t even realize they’d been sliced apart. They were already dead before their bodies had a chance to understand it.

The man then watched Julian fly into the next building, and it was almost as if he was just cutting grass. Yes, that was perhaps the best way he could describe Julian–he reminded Julian of his LaserScythe 3000.

One sweep, and half the lawn was cut.

“Wh…” The man shook his head, snapping himself out of his ridiculous thoughts. He raised his phasing blade, his fully cybernetic arms letting out a sharp hiss as he pushed their output to the limit.

He then looked at his team, who were as stunned as him and commanded,

“Let’s stop watching and help Julian Winters!” He roared and was about to turn around, but he noticed none of his comrades were moving—even the people who the other team was helping evacuate weren’t moving.

“Why aren’t any of you moving!? Let’s kill these stupid rats!”

“Uhh…” One of his teammates scratched her chin, “What rats?”

“What do you mean ‘what rats’!?” The man turned around, “These—huh?”

But as he turned around, he finally realized something.

The almost a hundred daemon rats that were surrounding them were all gone, turned into multiple pieces on the ground. And the only movement he could see was the last throes of the tendrils on their heads.

In less than a minute, Julian Winters had killed all the daemons within their area.

“He… killed everything?” The man gulped, not only because of how fast Julian neutralized all the monsters, but because of how fast he thought he would lose his career once Julian decided to become a true exterminator.

“Where… is he now!?” The man looked around for Julian.

“I…I was told he went through the portal inside the building!”

“What!?” The man’s head shot toward the broken window wall of the building where most of the daemons crawled out from, and without even any hesitation, his cybernetic legs whirred and he leaped toward the wall, only for him to skid on the ground midway…

…as he saw Julian step out of the hole in the wall.

It wasn’t only him, the team who were tasked to close the portal was now following behind him.

“What the…Did… he close the portal already?”

Julian was carrying three people—one slung over his shoulder, another tucked under his arm, and the third being dragged along by that same arm.

Everyone behind him was injured.

The only thing the man in front of him could do was gulp as Julian came to a stop right in front of him. He was already a towering figure, but standing this close? He felt massive.

In reality, Julian was only about eight inches taller—but in that moment, he might as well have been a skyscraper.

The man flinched for a moment when he saw Julian staring right at him, but he quickly shook his head when he remembered Julian was blind.

Julian didn’t really say anything, he only gently dropped the three people he was carrying in front of the man. And then he flew away.

Once again, without saying another word.

“That…” The man and everyone else there watched as he disappeared into the skies of Mars,

“...What was that?”

***

Julian had never been to Mars before, but several hours in, he’d probably circled the planet twice already—closing portals left and right, leaving the DCC completely bewildered.

And now, he stood in front of what was supposed to be the last Black Cube in the final portal on Mars.

It was almost… anticlimactic.

[Why have you been touching these Black Cubes before you destroy them, Master?]

[That’s none of your business, that’s level Z clearance.]

[But I am an AI solely for Master’s service—not granting me clearance would be a disservice to him.]

[What if you leak our secrets to Humanity Engineering?]

[I am offended that you think that of me, MEGAN.]

[You’re an AI, you don’t get offended.]

[Might I say that you are an AI yourself?]

[Heh…That’s what you think.]

[Hmm?]

An with MEGAN and Femty casually bickering in his mind. It somehow made the moment feel even more anticlimactic. Not that Julian noticed—he never really paid attention to that kind of thing.

And so, with a breath, he casually placed the Flossblade on the Black Cube, not even putting any force on it.

[...Still no visions, Julian?]

“No,” Julian hummed, and soon, the Flossblade sliced through the Black Cube—teleporting him out of the daemon plane.

The moment he emerged, his senses were immediately bombarded—his name echoing from every direction, drowned in a storm of claps, cheers, and roaring applause.

Julian’s ears slightly twitched with all the noise, but he focused solely on a single voice.

“Julian!”

“Ellie…?” Julian, for the first time since battling against the daemons, was pushed back as Ellie leaped toward him and hugged him.

“You shouldn’t hug me,” Julian muttered as the Gigantes started rolling the Flossblade back into the suit, “I’m covered in dirt.”

[Incorrect, Master—this armor is dustproof, waterproof, dirtproof, grimeproof, stainproof—]

[Yeah, yeah. I think the guy gets it. Let our humans have their moment.]

“You should not be saying that to me right now, you…” Ellie leaned away from Julian and pointed right at his face, “...You told me that you were going to Mars to provide our exterminators some weapons!”

“I did,” Julian hummed before pointing at someone in the crowd, “I made that.”

Ellie turned to where Julian was pointing, only to see Cindy waving at her. Ellie also waved at her, but quickly turned her focus back to Julian.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to fight the daemons yourself!”

“I suddenly had free time,” Julian shrugged, “But it’s good that you are here—I have something I need to talk with you about.”

“...Sounds serious,” Ellie blinked, “What–”

But before she could finish her words, Victoria also stepped out from the crowd and approached them.

“I thought we had something to talk about too, Mr. Winters,” Victoria chuckled as she bowed her head to Ellie, “I suppose we can talk after you and Ms. Summers are done.”

“No,” Julian hummed, “I need to talk with both of you.”

“Oh?” Victoria also blinked, “Then I suppose we should get out of here, then?”

“Hmm.” The three started to walk, but they were quickly bombarded by all sorts of people—media.

“Sir… Sir Julian! Can we ask some questions!?”

“Can we talk to you, Mr. Winters!?”

“Why didn’t you help the exterminators earlier!?”

Everyone bombarded him with all sorts of questions, but Julian really only had one single answer for them.

“No.”

And with that single word, the exterminators all huddled up to push away the media. With Cindy winking at her, but then quickly shook her head and looked away in embarrassment when he remembered that Julian was blind.

No one was able to follow Julian, as Victoria’s ship was already waiting for them.

And just like, Julian left the scene—as anticlimactic as he ended it. No interviews, no celebration, nothing.

***

Inside Victoria’s ship, Victoria was ordering all the staff to prepare all sorts of things to make Julian comfortable, as he had just fought for hours.

But Julian, however, only told her that he didn’t need any of it and only wished to talk in a secure room.

And so, here they were, in the ship’s briefing room—with Victoria personally offering water and tea, placing the cups in front of the couple.

“You do not have to worry, Mr. Winters—nothing you say in this room would travel outside of this room,” Victoria sat at the table. “Please, you can say whatever you want.”

Ellie sat beside Julian, leaning on the table as she looked at him.

Julian didn’t say anything at first, but after a long breath, he asked—

“Did you know my father?”

Victoria also didn’t say anything, but after a few moments, she sipped a cup of her coffee and said,

“Not personally. I suppose you found out that he used to work for Humanity Engineering? He… was one of the people who made the LinkGear.”

Ellie’s eyes widened as soon as she heard that, but she didn’t say anything.

“He was also one of the first humans to ever go to Artemia with a clone,” Victoria sighed, “And I was also with him in Artemia.”

“O?” Ellie snapped her head at Victoria, “But you just said you didn’t know him personally.”

“As I said before, Ms. Summers—my brain is attached to multiple bodies,” Victoria explained, “Humanity Engineering dug up my body, and—no. I apologize, but it is a secret.”

“They… dug up your what?” Ellie’s eyes widened, “Isn’t that illegal?”

“Yes—but it’s a long story. And we are getting sidetracked, Ms. Summers. I am not the one who had something to say,” Victoria turned to Julian and sipped at her coffee.

“I was born on Artemia.”

Suffice it to say, Victoria dropped her cup after that.

***

[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]

AUTHOR NOTES

Lol. Julian is stuck between aura farming and being nonchalant.

Yo. Why am I saying aura so much.

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